Adventures in Marketing: Looks Like B-Day Is Actually a Thing

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Ford’s not calling it that, but the marketing push surrounding the debut of the new-generation Bronco on July 13th is looking a lot like a joke your author has tossed about the past few weeks.

The sheer amount of prime-time programming space purchased on the Disney Media Network’s ABC, ESPN, and National Geographic channels — as well as spots on streaming service Hulu — calls to mind the ill-fated experiment of “E-Day.”

Heralding an automotive invasion that was quickly repelled and thrown back into the sea, E-Day reached viewers on September 4th, 1957.

Surely you know of the short-lived brand that special day, and the hour-long CBS television show created for it, signifies. A colossal failure of market research and corporate hubris, the brand revealed during The Edsel Show turned America off with its controversial countenance and confused buyers by stepping all over the Mercury brand. Booooo.

The ’59s looked good, though.

Hey, look — a tease!

Surely, the media blitz organized for the much more thoroughly thought-out Bronco’s reveal won’t end in sudden disdain for a model Ford die-hards have clambered for for years. There’s space in the lineup for it, a direct rival that’s dominated the off-roader segment for too long, and a rich heritage to back it all up.

It seems the Bronco might have company on the airwaves, too, as Ford mentions the debut of the Bronco “family.” Ford’s all about families these days, what with the Mustang gaining a big brother in the form of a four-door crossover with the same name. One assumes the Escape-based Bronco Sport will be in tow on July 13th.

But get a load of what Ford’s planning here:

“The Bronco reveal marks the first time Disney CreativeWorks, Disney’s award-winning creative agency, is deploying custom branded content, across multiple networks during prime time on ABC, ESPN and National Geographic,” the automaker said in a release. “Each film will air on the respective networks on Monday, July 13, during the first commercial break in the 8:00 p.m. ET hour. All three films will be available to viewers on Hulu starting Tuesday, July 14.”

The ABC spot is a 2-minute film starring country music singer Kip Moore. On ESPN, a film (of undetermined length) will feature a “different” Bronco model and professional climber Brooke Raboutou. National Geographic is where things really get wild, as Ford says, “Academy Award-winning director and acclaimed cinematographer, photographer and professional climber Jimmy Chin will spotlight another Bronco during ‘National Parks: Yosemite.'”

All of this content will make it to Hulu. At the same time, Ford plans to run additional special content on its Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook channels.

As I said, B-Day.

The reason for the media blitz, Ford says, is because the organizers of the Detroit auto show scrapped the June event on account of the coronavirus pandemic. Plan B was quickly crafted, and the cameras started rolling. Should be an interesting day.

We might even cover it!

[Image: Ford]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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